Tiny House Update – 10.6.10

October 6, 2010

This past month we were on the road living in our Jayco pop-up as I had to visit multiple locations for work. Luckily Crystal was able to come with me and we decided to use the time to analyze, prioritize, and daydream about life in the Tiny House.

When we left we knew our basic timeline for Tiny House but we weren’t sure what would happen in the meantime. As luck would have it (or God as we prefer to think) our trip took us to Pink Hill, North Carolina to visit with Crystal’s family. Now Crystal’s brother had offered us the lot next to his several times. “Just c’mon and move here. We’ll get you something to live in.” He always seemed more excited than us about our potential relocation. So while we were in Pink Hill it occurred to us that we were, in fact, supposed to be here. Crystal has made great strides in the last several years at really investing in her family relationships and coming to terms with her life growing up and the very dirt from whence she came. And to see her so happy made me that much more convinced we were to land here for a spell.

We worked out a timeline for Tiny House and our move with both Crystal’s brother and sister-in-law as well as each other and my folks (with whom we currently live multi-generationally with.) Everything seemed to be working out so well. But the question still remained. Where would we live in the ‘tween? Tiny House won’t be ready even externally until the first of June or so.

Crystal’s brother insisted that we live in the space adjoined to his woodshop that he had built with the intention of turning into a guest bungalow. “It isn’t very big,” he said. “Sounds perfect then!” We reminded him that we were in training for Tiny House. At just over 110 sq. ft. in a rectangular design, the Pink Hill Bungalow would be perfect.

So we have spent the last week cleaning out, cleaning up, and fixing up, what will become our next home and our first, real, minimal space. Crystal’s brother is a finish carpenter and works for a horse trailer company as the Sr. Project Carpenter in the Living Quarters dept. Could we get any more lucky? [note: He has already signed up to work on Tiny House and seems incredibly excited.] With the three of us working we eeked out a bathroom space complete with commode, shower, and possibly a small sink. We ran the septic line and plumbing lines. We installed a small, on-demand hot water heater. We drew up the galley kitchen and even found a second-hand RV sink and a refurbished RV oven/stove (both of which will go on to live in Tiny House). We primed walls and painted walls. Three walls are white and one is Olympic ‘Lettuce Alone’ (B68-3 in the Rejuvenate palette). We checked all the electrical outlets and did some prep work for the bed area and my yet-to-be-built drop down desk.

All in all it was an amazing week and one that gave us a sense of excitement and anticipation for our future together!

PS – One thing we quickly learned is that when we are building Tiny House we are going to have to weigh certain decisions based on budget and availability. Although we wanted to paint in Zero VOC paint, it was almost $10 more expensive per gallon and we simply couldn’t justify the expense at this time. Remember, we had not prepared financially for the bungalow prior to the decision. Likewise we had to think about hot water and how we would get an affordable hot water heater that was still eco-friendly and would keep our overhead relatively low. We now have new things to think about in regards to Tiny House but are incredibly thankful for the time to do so!